CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

[coldheritage]

♬ The Truth - Nonpoint

WHO || Failboat, Rafael, Isabella, Nadia  [Closed]
WHAT || After an exciting Grammy night, the Knights meet up with Nadia to hear what she has to say
WHERE || Staples Center, LA -->  Warehouse
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015  [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[  The Knights' mission to stop the signal and prevent Draken's cult from spreading whatever subliminal message  was lurking beneath Keijen Blade's performance was a success.  It didn't come without its bumps in the road, however:  Alexander Anderson showed up, and the Knights ran afoul of the Mind Master.    Buffy nearly died fighting Anderson, but in the end, he was defeated, beheaded, and hopefully put to death forever.   Finnick, though, found himself thrust into a mental illusion that convinced him he might still be in the Hunger Games, and left him uncertain about whether any of his life here was real.  

Another surprise came in the form of an announcement by Nadia Reichenov, an artist working with Crombe and company, that she was changing her band name and taking things in a 'new direction'.   This direction was perhaps revealed when after her performance, she approached the Knights in Rafael's dressing room - and handed them the necklace that connects her to the Nightmare God Malaak'a, saying she was willing to tell them everything.  ]

Comments

[attollores]

[She turns in his direction, not really focusing on his face as she speaks, eyes still a bright burnished gold color as a smirk crawls up her lips.] We'll see what we can do.

[nepotism]

[ fede goes soaring off with a caw, and alainn would see where the helicopter has crashed into an intersection, holding up traffic. cop cars speed towards it from up the block, but it doesn't look like it was damaged too badly from the fall, just from the barrage of bullets and hail storm. a couple men in full black tactical gear are getting out, but there's no sign of draken, the mind master, or anyone else familiar. apparently, they were just goons sent after them.

meanwhile, fred looks over at kat and muses: ] Remind me to never really piss you off. I don't need a cloud of murder hail following me around all day.

[attollores]

[Alainn takes a second to process the scene, and the fact that it seems to be nothing more than goons and not the big baddies. She directs Fede to follow them and keep an eye out for more followers, then pulls her gaze back to the rest of the party in the vehicle.]

Oh Fred, I think that's going ter be unavoidable at some point.[chuckle] It was just some goons in the helicopter, not Draken or the Mind Master.

[savemyself]

Draken? The leader of the anti-Shadowkind church?

[doubletake]

[Watch her casually try to brush hair out of her face as she finally releases her death grip on Buffy. Thanks, gurl.]

Turns out Chad Becksworth wasn't Chad Becksworth at all. They had the real Chad locked up on Andres, while Draken was walking around pretending to be him. It's the reason he and the Mind Master were attached at the hip.

[/casually assumes someone caught her up on this shit okay, feel free to tell me otherwise.]

[slay]

[ Turning to Rafael as if to offer context, Buffy explains, ] That's why I told you to come prepared.

[ And you didn't and had to borrow someone else's guns. Loser. Accidentally outs that Rafael invited them ?? ? sorry Izzy. ]

Given what happened in New York, we were sure Keijen and the Mind Master would use this opportunity for some large-scale brainwashing.

1/2

[romanticidal]

[ lmao RAFAEL LOOKS SO HORRIFIED AND THROWN OFF BY THIS REVELATION with his crit fail i can't even ] You mean to say that Burt's brother has not been his brother all this time?

[savemyself]

[ isabella is less scandalized by that part and more by all the other part. no one was surprised. she rounds on rafael ahaha ] You knew about this and you said nothing?

[nothingsodivine]

That's a really terrible start to a marriage.

[he makes a tsking noise.]

[savemyself]

[ isabella shoots des the darkest look imaginable ] That is why you were there, wasn't it? To stop them. Why did you lie to me?

[slay]

[ Just as Des was ready to leap in with some Buffy stan snark, Buffy is quick to snap when Isabella starts grilling Des. For the first time, she looks her in the eye, and the expression she wears is particularly unkind. ] I'm sorry, are you complaining that we were here to save your fiancé's life? Or did you forget the part where Anderson was here to assassinate him.

[ Because that was the outcome. If it were Buffy (because she can't help framing it that way), she certainly wouldn't be getting worked up about why they happened to be on scene if it resulted in stopping Anderson from hurting Raf. ]

It's not your business why we came in the first place. You're not a part of this mission.

[savemyself]

[ ♬ the room voted on this song cue

she rolled a 2 to keep her temper in check, so off she goes. ]

It was not Rafael's mission either! Did you even know that Anderson was going to be here? You decided it was alright to keep me in the dark but not him? I have just as much right as he does to be aware of this. And to help protect him if he is in very real danger. In case you haven't noticed, Rafael is my fiancee, not yours. [ and then she starts ranting in spanish, as rafael looks like he'd love to sink into the seat over here. is this real life. why. whyyyyy. ]

[bigbad]

Oh, bloody hell. Ladies, save the catfight for after the mission? [He glares at both of them in the mirror though the effect is somewhat lost on account of him not having a reflection.]

Buffy? She's right. She's as much a part of this as your mutual boytoy is. [Which is to say, technically not at all, but Spike ain't turning away either of their help.] Isabella? It's not Buffy's fault Rafael's entirely lacking in class. Don't take this out on her. Save it for our enemies, both of you.

[slay]

[ It's a good thing Spike pipes up because Buffy's expression goes ice cold and it appears for a moment that Isabella might have effectively silenced her with that burn. :) And by good thing, I really just mean Spike gives her a minute to get her shit together and digest the hurt, transitioning smoothly to a return volley. ]

Are you kidding me?

[ The sharp note of offense gets turned on Spike for a moment, obviously pressed and dejected that he has chosen to side with Isa-dangle my engagement over your head-bella. But she packs away that injury and puts on her self-righteous bossy pants to snap back at Isabella. ]

You really think that's what this is about? We're trying to stop a nightmare god from using Nadia to crawl over into our realm, and you're making it into—What? Jealous paranoia about your engagement? [ Her voice raises, but evens out as she cuts to a prompt, cool closure: ] I don't care.

[ An icy beat of silence follows. Draining the emotion out of her voice makes it almost appear like she really means it, whether that be because her priorities are genuinely elsewhere (which they are) or because the last five months just got her over the infatuation (it was never just infatuation) (Bluff 21). ]

If you want to help, then stop trying to get rid of us and actually help.

1/3

[savemyself]

If you are talking about Malaak'a, then perhaps that is because you have told us no such thing! Crawl over into our realm? How is such a thing even possible--

2/3

[shootfirst]

SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH - DON'T SAY HIS NAME!

3/3

[romanticidal]

[ whatever rafael thinks about what buffy just said vanishes behind a very carefully crafted mask, and he stares at her with an utterly unreadable expression for a moment before all that happens. then he turns to look at isabella, grabbing her by the shoulder gently but firmly, his tone grim. ] If this was not already a trap [ and he does not sound convinced of that ] then he is certainly watching us now. They'll be able to track us. We won't have much time when we arrive.

[isisagent]

[Archer glares at Isabella, and just begins slow clapping.]

He's not 100% sure what's going on with the Deity name situation, but it seems appropriate.]

[nothingsodivine]

[IDon'tKnowWhatIExpected.gif.

Well since he started it... Des might as well diffuse the situation and maybe vocalize something that's been weighing on him.]

We didn't know Anderson would be there and unless he said something, there's no proof he was there for Rafael. He's had plenty of opportunities to take him out all this time.

[okay so it's not an ideal subject change but at least it focuses isa's rage at something besides buffy.]

[attollores]

[Meanwhile, Alainn has been trying so damn hard to ignore all the drama happening over there, but when Isabella spits out that name she jerks, eyes whipping to the arguing mass in disbelief. Her eyes dart to Rose like "what the holy fuck did she just say?!?" then back again to drama-town, not even pretending to not be listening anymore.

Literally dumbest tag ever, sry.]

1/2

[savemyself]

And more commentary from the other man who is not a part of your your little club, yet I notice you have kept him in the loop on all this.

[romanticidal]

[ rafael says quietly but firmly to her: ] Isabella, that is not their fault.

[ he avoids looking at any of them, but does shoot her a look ] Let us simply try to focus on what is happening now. [ she looks back at him, still angry, but her arguments seem to die on her tongue, and she settles for just silently fuming for now. ]

[slay]

[ Hello awkward silence. Better than engaging in the hot mess that just exploded. She doesn't even feel compelled to correct Des and acknowledge that Anderson did outright declare his intentions because that's not the point. None of this Jersey Shore shit is the point. Nadia is.

So Buffy leans against the window and deliberately avoids looking at Rafael or Isabella the whole ride without saying another word. ]

[isisagent]

Uhm, excuse you angry and dramatic Spanish woman but we're a knighthood. not a "club".

[The real issues.]

[savemyself]

It is ironic that you would call me dramatic.